The Power of “No”!

I literally used to hate hearing the word “no”, so much that I would avoid certain questions in order to avoid a harsh response. Personally, I hate telling others “no”. So I definitely didn’t understand why someone would tell me “no”. I’ve always said, “If someone is bold enough to ask me a question, I should be open to answering them and/or saying yes to their request.” How ridiculous!

On one hand, I felt that way because I knew how hard it was for me to ask questions and on the other hand I didn’t want to be rude. Thinking that if it didn’t sound like it would cause me physical or mental pain, “why not?”. Often times, stretching myself too thin and slacking in areas of my life that needed my attention the most. Over the past few months, since I have truly begun to work hard to accomplish my dreams and not stop at anything short of achieving them, I have learned to both say and accept “no”.

Throughout my life, I would often times hear people say hearing “no” didn’t negatively affect them it just pushed them to do more. I never understood that until now. I’m planning an event to celebrate my personal growth, my community and my life (May 5, Happy Birthday to me!). I know my vision and I don’t plan to tweak the overall plan at all. I really wanted to have it at one venue but the coordinator told me the only way I could do so was to change my plan completely. Umm, no thank you! I know what I want and I refuse to change my plans just to secure a venue. Finding out that I wouldn’t be able to have it at the location of choice and the reason behind it only pushed me to perfect and personalize my plan even more!

Whatever you want in life you have to want it bad enough to be able to accept a few no’s before getting there. When “no” doesn’t bother you, that’s how you know you are truly chasing your dream. You’ve finally arrived and whatever it is that you are going after is right around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, I still get nervous when approaching people but at this point I figure the quicker I ask the uncomfortable question the quicker I’m able to move forward. Rather forward be reaching out to others or moving on to the next step because I’ve arrived at my “yes”, I know that it’s progress and accept it as such.

Fight for what’s yours. Fight for those things that your heart truly desires. Ask uncomfortable questions. Place yourself in uncomfortable situations AND watch everything you ever hoped for come to life.